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A Place for Your Stuff - George Carlin

Getting Organized in the Era of Endless

SQUALL PRESS, the publishing division of FileHeads, is pleased to announce Getting Organized in the Era of Endless: What to Do When Information, Interruption, Work and Stuff are Endless But Time is Not! Order yours today!

This updated collaboration offers the best understanding and solutions for adults who want to get and stay organized. Readers will enjoy all new content on organizing digital information, managing distractions, organizing finances, and coping with the “black hole” of the Internet. This exciting new resource offers three levels of strategies and support: self-help, non-professional assistance from family and friends, and professional support; allowing the reader to determine the appropriate level of support.

Recently, students at Fordham University conducted a study to identify the perceived value of hiring a Professional Organizer. This study identified reasons for hiring a Professional Organizer, the functional results of having hired a Professional Organizer and the perceived value of having done so. A notable result of the survey was the perceived value of a reduction of stress.

So, you’re working in your client’s home. You are doing all that magic you do to make space for possessions where before there had been none, identifying excess for donation or give-away, and enabling your client to access what they want when they want it. But when your client hands over the payment, do you know what they value the most?

Professional Organizer’s Value To A Client

According to a survey entitled “Customer Value Perception of Professional Organizers”* conducted by researchers at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, nearly half of the respondents reported that hiring a professional organizer is associated with spending more quality time with their family and friends. What clients feel they are paying for, most of all, is a social value of getting organized. Getting organized is also highly correlated (49%) with reducing stress. Although the price of paying a professional organizer is not reported as “economical,” the perception is that it’s really worth it for its “social” value.

Another primary finding of the survey is that our clients want to be heard. Of the clients surveyed, 65% of respondents report that the “empathetic nature” of a Professional Organizer builds trust. They value the conversations we have with them and the time we take to hear their stories.

Our experience and our confidence in ourselves is also perceived (over 90%) as a trust-builder. Building trust makes it possible for our clients to accomplish what the researchers identify as one of the foremost psychological values of getting organized: overcoming the emotional attachment to stuff. Fifty-eight percent of respondents cite this as a specific value of hiring us. But an even more prominent (66%) psychological value is that following the instructions of a professional organizer is easier and less stressful for our clients than making an organizing plan on their own.

From a functional point of view, 55% of respondents experienced greatly increased confidence when organizers shared organizing processes such as sorting, labeling and storing. These benefits are notable, but the most valued outcome for our clients is the capacity to find what they are looking for quickly. A full 74% felt increasingly more confident or greatly confident that hiring a professional organizer would help them in this area. Boom.

What’s The Bottom Line?

Now let’s talk bottom line: Ours and our clients. Our clients do not perceive hiring a professional organizer to have a strong financial value as measured by typical residential organizing indicators like paying bills on time, buying fewer new items, or avoiding duplicate purchases. Because neither productivity consultants’ clients nor business clients were the focus of the survey, the perception of the financial value of organizing definitely deserves more research.

However, what about our bottom line; what can we do to increase business with the knowledge we now have? Most importantly, we can be the kind of organizers who know how to communicate well with clients, to show empathy and to listen to their needs. NAPO and many coaching organizations offer classes that can “up your communication game.” Our research partners at Fordham University recommend that professional organizers also sharpen their sales pitch to clearly define the social and psychological benefits of getting organizing and not just the functional value. And lastly, it wouldn’t hurt if we implement innovative pricing schemes to make our services more economical, if we are not already doing so. Concepts such as sliding scales, pricing packages, or special discounts are examples that are economical but do not undercut our value-rich rates.

Where Does A Professional Organizer Go From Here?

There is much fertile ground for ongoing research. One fact that leaps out from the survey is that both we organizers and our clients are overwhelmingly female-identified. Would the results of the survey be different if the sample included more male respondents? We simply do not know…yet. But we do know that the market for bringing men into the profession and into our client base is wide open. The motivation of millennials (26-35 year olds) for hiring professional organizers is least well-known. Over 80% of respondents were over 46 years old. Perhaps millennials are too young to need us…yet. But we should get ready. They’ll be here. Let’s be sure we’re reaching out to younger people to join NAPO. We may find that their cohort clientele will have totally different perceptions of the value of professional organizing and productivity consulting.
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* NAPO professional organizers and productivity consultants volunteered the names of clients to participate in the survey. The researchers contacted the clients by email. Assuring anonymity, 96 clients actually completed the survey. Background research was also gathered from industry-related blogs, articles, white papers, personal interviews with professional organizers, and websites.

Overcome the Overload

Every day we’re confronted with information, distractions, work and lots of other stuff. Is it a surprise anyone gets anything done, never mind those with attention deficit? People with ADHD are easily overwhelmed by the fast pace and interruptions, so they need some stay-focused strategies to keep them on track. Consider this your “how to get things done” guide.

Capture All That Information

Instead of going crazy trying to write down all those bits of information that come your way, try these solutions:

Call important information into your voicemail and leave yourself messages.

Store your text messages in one place using an app called Treasuremytext.

Finish Something, Anything, Early in the Day

Completing a chore – a small task or something larger that you worked on yesterday – gives you a sense of closure, making the rest of the day meaningful. No matter how the day goes, you can say you got something done, which gives you a sense of satisfaction that will encourage you to keep going the next day.

Get A Grip

If a phone call or a request from your spouse distracts you from a task you’re working on, hold onto a physical artifact to remind you what you were doing. An unopened envelope, for instance, will remind you that you were opening mail before the interruption, and will focus you attention more quickly.

Put It On The Calendar

It’s not enough to write down a task on your to-do list. You have to enter it into your calendar. Assigning a task to a specific day increases your chances of getting it done. With a to-do list only, you have a 40%-50% chance of doing the task. Scheduling the task increases your chances of completing it by 70% or so.

Just Do It

Don’t get overwhelmed about where or when to start a decluttering task. It doesn’t matter where you start; begin at any spot in the room. After you start, continue in some kind of logical order. If you start on the left side of the room, keep going to the left. If you start on the top shelf of a cabinet, work your way down. There is no ideal way to tack clutter.

Manage the Mail

To cut off junk mail at its source, log onto catalogchoice.org and have them alert marketers to stop sending you stuff.

Have only one place for the day’s mail to land, maybe the dining room table. Yes, it piles up quickly, but at least you know where it will be when you decide to tackle it.

Don’t open junk mail. It can contain four to seven pieces of paper. Junk mail goes, unopened, right into the recycling bin.

Change the Scene

People with ADHD can optimize their focus and attention by doing different tasks in different kind of places. If you have to do your taxes, rent a room in a local hotel for a day or two. You can spread out all the papers and receipts, with fewer distractions that at home. Some people with attention deficit can’t get anything done – studying, writing, reading – in the quiet of a library. Finding a setting like a Starbucks (LINK) with some background noise, will help them be more productive.

Enlist a Support Team

Stop trying to be an ordinary person who keeps it all together in the same way that people without ADHD do. Support might mean another set of hands, someone to keep your morale up or someone to function as a body double. A body double is somebody who is physically present as you do a task but doesn’t to the task with you. Your body double anchors you to the chore at hand.

Switch Up Your Routine Every Quarter

People with ADHD get bored with their routines more quickly than those without the condition. The higher boredom factor keeps them from tackling things they once completed with ease. Routines – whether it’s opening mail, doing dishes or tackling a project at work – can be kept fresh by changing them up every three months. This doesn’t mean a complete overhaul, just a tweak.

Play It Loose With Deadlines

Schedule extra time to finish a task. Rather than trying to precisely estimate how lone a task will take, just say, “Screw it. I’m going to need 30 percent more time for everything I plan, no matter what.” Just pick a number: 20% more, 50% more and allot that. The worst that can happen is that you finish it early.

Keep Calm and Carry On

As you start your day, do the first three things that worry you the most to get them off your plate. The internal distraction of worry plays more on people with ADHD than on other people and prevents them from getting things done. If you do any small part of what is worrying you, chance are you’ll break the anxiety and move forward.

Now available – the revised 2nd edition ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life by Judith Kolberg and Dr. Kathleen G. Nadeau which offers the best understanding and solutions for adults with ADD who want to get and stay organized. Readers will enjoy all new content on organizing digital information, managing distractions, organizing finances, and coping with the “black hole” of the Internet. We also offer three levels of strategies and support: self-help, non-professional assistance from family and friends, and professional support; allowing the reader to determine the appropriate level of support. Pick up your copy today.

What Does A Professional Organizer Do?

According to a survey of 1,001 people sponsored by the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals, the public is well-aware of the term “professional organizer”. In fact, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed is familiar with the term*. More than half of those surveyed know professional organizers assisting in both the home and work environments, and the public totally get that they can help reduce clutter, lower stress, and help them find things easier. In fact, 22% of all respondents who’ve never used an organizer’s services would consider hiring one. One of the primary factors that influences this decision is whether their friends or family members saw results when working with a professional organizer.

Why Should You Hire A Professional Organizer?

The tough nuts are those 50% of respondents who have not yet used a professional organizer and are holding back. Why? No, it’s not value. “I think it’s a waste of money” actually comes in fifth place. Is it cost? No, guess again. The number one reason people do not consider hiring a professional organizer is “I can do it myself.” Okay. Have at it. But when your home office explodes or your den has to house your returning adult children, the professional organizer be here for you. The office and den are the most disorganized rooms of a home, according to the survey at 42%, followed by the kitchen (35%), laundry room (33%) and master bedroom (30%).

Who Is Most Likely To Hire A Professional Organizer?

25-34 year olds are most primed to hire a professional organizer, the survey reveals, followed closely by 35-44 year olds. And although the survey does not make it clear what they might need from an organizer that differs from other age groups, we know that these millennials have just surpassed the Baby Boomers in numbers reaching 75.4 million this year. So there’s plenty of organizing business go to around.

Once someone hires an organizer, 73% of respondents with prior use of a professional organizer would hire one again and not just for clutter-control but for the broader benefits of increased safety and security and improved relationships. Who knew? Well, now you know!

Click here for a great infographics with more statistics from this survey.

*Conducted in April, 2016 by NAPO, the first annualPublic Survey is sponsored by the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals. It surveyed 1001 qualified respondents on questions related to residential and office organization, organizing industry awareness, and perceptions of the public to that industry. Qualified respondents are US citizens only, over the age of 25 and who own their own home. For more information about these results, please contact Kahra Buss atkahra.buss@napo.net.

Recently the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals conducted the first annual Public Survey to find out what the public knows about professional organizers and what they think about them.

What they discovered is very interesting. Read more about the results here.

Recently my co-author Dr. Kathleen G. Nadeau and I released a revised addition of our book ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life. With changes in our world since the book was first published in 2002, we felt it was time to update the book to include more information about organizing digital information, managing distractions, organizing finances, and coping with the “black hole” of the Internet.

We are very honored to have some of the foremost experts in the fields of ADD and ADHD review our book. The response has been overwhelming. Here is what some of the experts are saying about the revised ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life.

“Simply the best book in the field, and not only for people with ADD but for anyone who is overwhelmed.” —Dr. Ned Hallowell, Child & Adult Psychiatrist

“ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life was a godsend for me when it was first published in 2002…in this new book is the section on getting organized in the digital world. Those chapters alone are worth the price of the book!” —Paul O’Connor, Master Certified ADHD Coach, Secretary, The Professional Association Of ADHD Coaches

“ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life is a must read for my organizing clients and anyone that faces daily ADHD challenges. This comprehensive, easy to read book is packed full of helpful organizing ideas and strategies.” —Randi Lyman, CPO-CD® and Owner of A Helping Hand

“While reflecting their years of successfully helping ADD clients, [Kolberg and Nadeau] manage to make their up-to-date information not only useful but FUN. Thanks a bunch, you two. It’s good to know somebody understands —and can help. This book does both.” —Sandra Felton The Organizer Lady®, Author of 5 Days to a Clutter Free House, and Founder of Messies Anonymous

“That’s what I love about this book most of all: there is no more ‘waiting to be rescued’, no more excuses to sit back or give up. The simple and attainable strategies will boost our clients’ self-confidence and will help them prosper.” —Hilde Verdijk, CPO-CD®, MRPO®, Yourganize Professional Organizing

“Packed with practical solutions and illuminating anecdotes, this new edition of ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life is a must-read for those who have ADD and those who work with them.” —Casey Moore, CPO, ACC, The Productivity Coach

“The new edition of ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life by Kolberg and Nadeau is simply wonderful and I will highly recommend it to all my clients!” —Sari Solden, MS, LMFT, Psychotherapist and Author of Women with Attention Deficit Disorder and Journeys Through ADDulthood

“This is the best book available on organizing with ADD.” —Kate Varness, CPO-CD, COC, MA, Editor of The ICD Guide to Challenging Disorganization: For Professional Organizers

Judith Kolberg formed FileHeads Professional Organizers in 1989. She is the founder of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, the precursor to the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD), a popular international speaker, and is widely recognized as an industry-thought leader. Chronically disorganized people of many stripes have embraced her non-traditional organizing methods as described in her five books, which have sold nearly a half million copies worldwide. Her latest book, Getting Organized in the Era of Endless, addresses the complex area of digital disorganization. Judith has held several leadership positions in the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO) and has been awarded the organizing industry’s highest honors. Judith resides in Atlanta, where she takes care of her Mom, sees clients, writes, and blogs.

Kathleen G. Nadeau, PhD is a clinical psychologist and director of the Chesapeake ADHD Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she continues to practice and provide supervision and training related to ADHD. She has been a leader in the field for the past 20 years, publishing over a dozen books on topics related to ADHD. In 1999, she received the CHADD Hall of Fame Award for her ground-breaking work on women and girls with ADHD. Dr. Nadeau is a frequent lecturer both nationally and internationally and is known for her solution-focused, integrative approach to treating ADHD. She has focused for many years on issues relating to organization, planning, and daily life management challenges faced by individuals with ADHD and first approached professional organizer Judith Kolberg in the late 1990s about the need for an organizing book that specifically addresses the particular challenges faced by adults with ADHD.

Our renewed collaboration offers the best understanding and solutions for adults with ADD who want to get and stay organized. Readers will enjoy all new content on organizing digital information, managing distractions, organizing finances, and coping with the “black hole” of the Internet. We also offer three levels of strategies and support: self-help, non-professional assistance from family and friends, and professional support; allowing the reader to determine the appropriate level of support.

Topics covered include:

Part I: Getting Started1. ADD-Friendly Organizing: A Different Organizing Approach
2. ADD-Friendly Strategies That Work with Your ADD
3. Structure and Support: Creating the Framework for Success

If any of these issues are ones you or a loved one struggles with, I encourage to get your copy today.

The Authors

Judith Kolberg formed FileHeads Professional Organizers in 1989. She is the founder of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, the precursor to the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD), a popular international speaker, and is widely recognized as an industry-thought leader. Chronically disorganized people of many stripes have embraced her non-traditional organizing methods as described in her five books, which have sold nearly a half million copies worldwide. Her latest book, Getting Organized in the Era of Endless, addresses the complex area of digital disorganization. Judith has held several leadership positions in the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO) and has been awarded the organizing industry’s highest honors. Judith resides in Atlanta, where she takes care of her Mom, sees clients, writes, and blogs.

Kathleen G. Nadeau, PhD is a clinical psychologist and director of the Chesapeake ADHD Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she continues to practice and provide supervision and training related to ADHD. She has been a leader in the field for the past 20 years, publishing over a dozen books on topics related to ADHD. In 1999, she received the CHADD Hall of Fame Award for her ground-breaking work on women and girls with ADHD. Dr. Nadeau is a frequent lecturer both nationally and internationally and is known for her solution-focused, integrative approach to treating ADHD. She has focused for many years on issues relating to organization, planning, and daily life management challenges faced by individuals with ADHD and first approached professional organizer Judith Kolberg in the late 1990s about the need for an organizing book that specifically addresses the particular challenges faced by adults with ADHD.

I recently joined two organizing-industry committees that study organizing trends, and I’ve detected a clutter tsunami coming our way.

Aging, first-tier Baby Boomers will continue to downsize now that the housing crisis is over and they are seeking outlets for their excess clutter.

Second-tier Baby Boomers, hit hard by economic swings, will cash-in their home equity, shed excess, and become more mobile.

Gen Xers, concerned about job security, will want to continue their dominance as home-based business owners in their basements, attics, and rooms left available as their kids go off to college.

Gen Y, could well be sandwiched between their Boomer parents and children with all three generations living together in precious space that has no room for clutter.

And if you think Gen Z wants to inherit the stuff from other generations, think again. They’re totally into small living quarters, with techy, multi-purpose furnishings unlike their parents or grandparents.

We’ll all need to employ a great number of de-acquisition methods to stop from being carried away in the flood of clutter. That means, not just charitable donations, recycling, and consignment but also using specialty sales sites like moveloot.com for furniture; decluttr.com for games, DVDs, and CDs; thredup.com for clothing; and usell.com for electronics. CraigsList and Freecycle are unbelievably effective in eliminating stuff. Just observe a few common sense safety measures (here and here) before you take advantage of them.

Check out our “Get Rid Of Your Stuff” flashcards to help organize and declutter.

Hey, you don’t need to be great at all these methods. Go to www.napo.net to find a professional organizer who can help you. In Georgia, that would be FileHeads at 404-231-6172, or info@fileheads.net

Digital Estate Planning

It’s a new year. A fresh start. Let’s get your affairs in order. If, God forbid, you suddenly died or became incapacitated, you not only need a Will, a designated Executor and Power of Attorney, and a Living Will, but also a Digital Estate Plan. A Digital Estate Plan:

Provides for the safe transference of passwords, user codes and other log-in information to your Executor or other authorized representative.

Creates a “paper trail” for online or web-based accounts which often have no statements or paper trail.

Accounts for digital assets that might be overlooked by your estate.

Records your wishes regarding social media and protects you from unauthorized access by identity thieves and other digital mischief-makers.

Centralizes all your digital information in one place.

It’s impossible to put a price on that kind of peace of mind. Let me sit by your side and create your confidential Digital Estate Plan with you for just $250.00*. On average, it takes about 3 hours to create a Digital Estate Plan if you do a bit of easy preparation before the session (we’ll send you a simple preparation checklist prior to the session.) You can schedule two 1½-hour sessions or one 3-hour session, whatever is convenient for you. Simply shoot me an email to Judith@fileheads.net with ‘DEP’ in the subject line and we’ll nail down a time.

And here’s another benefit. Doing a Digital Estate Plan for yourself positions you to provide Digital Estate Plan services to your clients by becoming a certified Digital Estate Plan Consultant. Contact me at Judith@fileheads.net or 404-226-1381 for more information.

*Some Digital Estate Plans are incredibly complex. Some people don’t prepare at all in advance of their session. These factors can result in a higher fee. But you’ll always be informed beforehand if we cannot honor the $250.00 quote.

Getting Kids Organized

Got kids or grandkids that need help with their nascent organizing skills? Start them young! I want to congratulate my colleagues and friends, Diane Quintana and Jonda Beattie, on the publication of their children’s books, Suzie’s Messy Room and Benji’s Messy Room, both available at Amazon.com